Those Who Wander
by Flamest57
Summary: When partners Hisoka Kurosaki and Asato Tsuzuki encounter a ghost in the land of the dead questions are raised. Trying to figure out a dream and the possible meaning behind it, trying to uncover missing memories, and a new drug case all going at the same time Kai Eto has his hands full. Finding the key to everything that he wants to know won't be easy, but he will try his best.
1. Ruby, Amethyst, and Emerald

Ruby, Amethyst, and Emerald

Anime: Switch and Descendants of Darkness (Yami no Matsuei)

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing.

The world was a white ethereal plain, everything was bright not colorful but seemed like it was full of light. The cherry trees that lined the streets were white in color in the never ending sunlight it was beautiful. The petals were cascading from the branches making the ground appear as if it just snowed. Kai doesn't remember seeing anything like this, the building that stood beyond the trees was familiar but yet different at the same time. It reminded him of one building in Tokyo it may have been a ministry building where politics was the main subject within the walls. Not that he cared, but it was that feeling of familiarity that caught his attention. It looked like an area of Tokyo that he knew so well, but he was at peace. This look alike for he did not know what else to call the current area felt peaceful, and he could not remember when the last time he felt this relaxed and at peace. It did not last though, something was calling to Kai to wake up but he did not remember falling asleep. In a flash the white of the scene changed to black.

Kai awoke to the sound of his alarm clock, signaling the start of a new day. Eyelids fluttered open to reveal auburn irises and grogginess was still apparent if the haziness was anything to go by. For the first time in a long time, Kai had felt well rested he could only assume that it was the dream that he had during the night; what was that anyways? It was such a beautiful place too although he did start to feel uneasy about making eye contact with that kid. He had heard somewhere that when a person dreams the brain will fill the gaps and makes the characters (for lack of a better term), out of the people that the dreamer had met or seen before. So that had left Kai wondering where he had seen the teen before, in his line of work being a matori sometimes brought him in contact with minors. High school students were a special case in this light as drugs were becoming the norm within the younger crowd. That fact alone often pulled at Kai's heartstrings, as he had become a matori in order to help people but with the good comes the bad. After losing his memory due to a case going bad, he had to rely on the archives from his past cases to get the answers that he was looking for. He really wanted to get his memories back, even though he recognized everyone it still felt like something was missing, something of vital importance. If he thought missing his memories up until he was six years old was bad, the fact that he was missing yet another year was just plain pissing him off at this point. There was one drawback of possibly retrieving his memories; according to the doctor he had lost them as a defense mechanism of the mind in order to protect his psyche from damage. Getting his memories back could prove to be detrimental in this particular process, as at the time his mind was not strong enough too properly process the trauma that he was experiencing at the time.

Getting fed up with the constant beeping of his alarm clock, Kai decided it was about time to get up and proceeded to hit the button to silence the damn alarm. The sun had yet to rise but this was normal at this time of year, got to love the winter months and the darkness that it brings. Outside of the window it was dark and no stars could be seen due to the light pollution from the city that he lived in, and what a city it was. After making a hearty breakfast, Kai then took a shower in an attempt to get out of the groggy state that he was in. He knew that he would ultimately regret this decision later as there was snow on the ground currently. Now feeling refreshed and dressed Kai prepared to head out the door but not before placing a fingerless black glove on his right hand and affixing a chain with a decorative key around the wrist. He doesn't know why these items mean so much and why he needs them but without them he feels anxious, in a way they are like a security blanket. Getting his keys and his wallet from the side table next to the door, he began to bundle up for the cold weather and took one last look at his apartment, the rooms starting to be bathed in the breaking of dawns early light.

In the land of the dead or as it is commonly known as Meifu Tsuzuki and Hisoka stood rooted to the spot on the steps that led to the Judgement Bureau. Hisoka was the first to break the silence that fell over the two, "Did you see that?" Hisoka questioned Tsuzuki not really believing his own eyes and being utterly confused, he honestly hoped that Tsuzuki felt the same. Tsuzuki in turn rubbed his eyes thinking that it had to be a trick of the light or something to that effect. They did not just see a literal ghost in Meifu; it simply did not happen nor was it really possible. Ghosts were often spirits that stayed on Earth in the land of the living to complete unfinished business, this is common knowledge. What is not widely known that if the spirit lingers there is a high probability that they can become corrupted. What with death being the ultimate traumatic event, with this trauma comes negativity which can corrupt and turn a spiritual body into a demonic presence that they feel unto others. That is one of the reasons among many others that the Judgement Bureau exists, to bring these wayward spirits to be judged accordingly and to move on with their afterlife before such a fate may befall them. Even though they are dead Shinigami or Guardians of Death, do not take on that sheer misty look that mortals like to associate with the afterlife and portrayal of what a spirit may look like. No time stops for them completely and they look exactly as they did as when they were alive until the moment that death took over. In all of Tsuzuki's years of experience of being a Guardian (75 years and counting) he had never seen such a sight, in a way it was not natural for this realm. "Yeah I saw it, I just don't believe it. We'll have to let Tatsumi and the boss know about this" Tsuzuki concluded, the situation needed to be resolved fast and promptly. Green met Amethyst questioningly, "So I can assume that this is not normal, well normal for here anyways?" Hisoka questioned his partner. Tsuzuki gave his partner a deadpanned look, "I don't know Hisoka have you ever seen anything like what we saw outside of a case in your last five years of service?" Tsuzuki countered in a slightly sarcastic fashion with a hint of seriousness, honestly sometimes his partner can be naïve. Hisoka had no retort as he knew his partner had a point, "Okay let's get going then no time like the present I suppose. That and I do not want to get reamed by Mr. Tatsumi for being late" Hisoka prompted. _'Ever the diligent one'_ the thought came and went, luckily Tsuzuki over the years had gotten better at raising his mental shields to keep some thoughts from his empath of a partner.

The two entered the Bureau and quickly bypassed their assigned office straight to Chief Konoye's office and by proxy Tatum's office. As the duo entered the office they were greeted by a happy Tatsumi which was rare, well in Tsuzuki's case as the department's secretary liked to give his friend a hard time. "Morning Mr. Tsuzuki and Kurosaki" the two smiled at the secretary acknowledging the greeting before greeting their boss. "Morning Chief" Tsuzuki greeted, simple, sweet, and to the point. "Morning, not that I mind the visit, but what brings you both here exactly? Please tell me that Tsuzuki didn't break something else" questioned Konoe with a grimace while awaiting an answer. "Hey, hey for the record I didn't do anything" stated Tsuzuki. "So no different than any other day, duly noted" said Hisoka with a smirk, he was starting to become more cheeky as of late. "Hey" exclaimed Tsuzuki, why was everyone ganging up on him today? "Payback for earlier" stated Hisoka with a deadpanned expression. The banter ended quickly as it was time to get this impromptu meeting underway, "The reason that we are here boss, and I don't really know how to explain it so I will just come right out with it. We saw a ghost for lack of a better term, near the cherry blossoms" explained Hisoka with some hesitation knowing that there were more questions to come. Konoe and Tatsumi both shared a look of disbelief; both would have thought it a joke if this had come from Tsuzuki and not Hisoka. "Would you care to elaborate more on that Kurosaki?" asked Tatsumi. "Certainly Mr. Tatsumi, when we were coming to work Tsuzuki and I had met on the steps and started talking, during our conversation something had caught my eye. I looked towards the cherry blossoms feeling a presence I guess, in order to get a better look. What I saw was a young man that looked to be either in his late teens or early twenties at best. It's like he was there but not there at the same time at least not fully. He was pale and transparent like a fog; he was just standing there not doing anything in particular as if in a daze. Before he disappeared he looked at us for a moment and then was gone" Hisoka exercised silence after finishing his explanation. The rest of the room followed Hisoka's example with the silence that permeated in the room; this was certainly a first across the board. "Right well there seems to be nothing that we can do at the moment but I will have the GuShoShin look into it" Konoe explained the course of action, and the other three nodded their heads in understanding. This inadvertently concluded the meeting and Tsuzuki and Hisoka exited the office and headed to their shared office desks to begin the working day, there lie in wait the reports that still needed to be completed from their last case; Tatsumi no doubt would want it by end of day, shift, whatever. Seriously there was never a dull moment in the land of the dead, the only exception being what feels like the endless stream of paperwork.

Kai arrived at work with little to no trouble and was in fact early. He made his way through the Narcotics Control Division to the office that housed the investigative unit, his unit. As he made his way to his assigned desk he could not help his eyes zero in on the unmanned desk that sat on the corner of the group. According to his cohorts they said that it belonged to a former matori, but that is all they would tell him, they won't even tell Kai what the person's name is, if they were male or female, nothing; more questions to add to the seemingly endless list. He would never admit it out loud but losing his memories of the past year was seriously annoying and the lack of answers to his questions was, to be blunt, starting to piss him off but he understands why no one will tell him anything. According to Dr. Shino his memory has to come back on its own with no outside assistance. Since the good doctor also works at the Narcotics Control Division as the divisions shrink he wasted absolutely no time in telling Chief Hiki this little tidbit of information, much to Kai's disappointment. Even though the reason is crystal clear and understandable on his part it was still annoying as hell.

Bringing his attention back to his own desk and out of his thoughts he noted the unfinished report from one of his latest cases that lie on the desktop. He and Miyoshi, a member of the research division, had to check out an anonymous tip that had come through; about a drug ring that was ran by high school students out of a renowned prep school. Thinking back on the case it had been slightly bothersome as the school in question was an all-girls school, not co-ed as they originally thought. Unfortunately for him, none of the female undercovers that were available could pass as a high school student, so that apparently only left one option; Kai ended up crossdressing much to his dismay. Although he had no recollection of it Miyoshi accidentally let it slip that this was not a first for Kai, but that was all that Miyoshi was willing to divulge about the subject. In the end they were able to trace the drug back to its source when Kai was able to infiltrate the dealers, in order to make the suppliers and makers known. The result was a major win for the department so to Kai it was all worth it in the end. So begins another day at the NCD, at least the weather is somewhat nice, as nice as it can be for winter anyways, as he began to get to work thoughts about his missing memories and the dream were soon forgotten.


	2. Let the Snow Fall

Let the Snow Fall

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Kai was on his way home from work when the snow began to fall, it was the middle of winter which was Kai's favorite time of year. Originally he had wanted nothing more to do than go home and pass out shower, food, and PJ's be damned. It was a long week for the department, so much so that he had not remembered the dream let alone had time to get some proper sleep. The falling flakes were enough for him to abandon his desire for his bed and instead of heading home he had started to head towards the park.

When he had gotten there, there was no one else in sight. It was quiet and beautiful the ground covered in a blanket of white, and the sounds were dampened by the snow. The lights in the park emitted a soft glow turning the powder yellow in various places and, with the moon shining down darkness turned into a soft blue hue. The park itself was nothing special just somewhere for the children to play, there were fields for sports, a jungle gym, and a pond that was frozen over.

Kai walked over to a bench that was near the pond and sat down and just stared at the glassy surface as the flakes collected on the frozen water. After a couple of minutes he began to absent mindedly play with the key that was on his wrist. It was not long that he began thinking about his past again, the calm soon went away and now he just felt frustrated. Sure work was a good distraction but it was driving him nuts that he had an entire year of memory missing. Just as he was about to get stuck down the rabbit hole, the snow began to crunch around him signaling that someone was approaching.

Kai looked up in the direction of where the crunching was coming from and saw that a man was approaching. The man was tall and had what looked like work attire as well as a black trench coat, which billowed as he walked. He had to wonder if the man had the same idea as him to come to the park to enjoy the snow.

"Oh evening I did not think that anyone else would be in the park this late" the man said with a smile.

"Evening, yeah I was on my way home from work, and noticed the snow. I came here to clear my head," explained Kai

Why he mentioned that last bit he had no idea, as he was not about to tell a stranger his problems. Not only that but he had no idea if this person meant him harm or not. In his line of work he would not be surprised if someone was out for revenge, and this was one of the reasons why he wanted his memory back; to be able to protect himself from people who wish harm on others.

"Work? Really? I came out here cause I could not sleep, I thought that I was in luck when I found this park," said the man.

"So you're not from around here? Do you live in Tokyo or elsewhere?" asked Kai.

' _Oh if only you knew'_ thought the man.

"No I am from outside of Tokyo, I reside in Kyushu but I am here for work, so I found it funny that you were coming from work. You look awfully young to be working already," said the man.

"I'm older than I look," said Kai with a deadpan look on his face.

This was another thing that slightly frustrated him about having a baby face and that was the fact that he looked like he should still be in high school. Not wanting to be rude Kai slid over on the bench after clearing away some of the built up powder.

"Here, there is plenty of room," Kai offered.

The man took the offered spot and sat next to Kai, in those moments the two just watched the snowfall in companionable silence. It was nice, and the distraction was welcomed at least that is what Kai thought. After some moments, Kai turned to the stranger and asked for his name, after all strangers are just friends that you have not met yet.

"My name is Tsuzuki Asato, and may I get yours" said Tsuzuki while offering a hand.

"Eto Kai," responded Kai as he took the offered hand and gave it a shake.

When he did so the key slid down his wrist and caught Tsuzuki's eye, as it did not look like just any ordinary key. It also did not look like a decorative charm for the chain so he concluded that it must have some other meaning. Kai noticed Tsuzuki's gaze go towards the bracelet and it landing on the key. Kai offered that the key was something that he doesn't recall, but keeps it with him for when his memories come back.

"So you lost your memories?" asked Tsuzuki.

"Yeah but not all of them, just the ones that were from last year," explained Kai.

"Huh I wonder why year is gone from you." Tsuzuki wondered out loud.

"Yeah you and me both. I just want to get them back so that I can just live my life, I don't know how to describe it but it feels like there is something missing. I know that the answers are in my memories," responded Kai.

"Well Eto-san I have no doubt that you will find them but keep in mind, what if they do not have the answers that you seek?" Tsuzuki asked curiosity fueling the conversation.

Kai had never thought of that, he is so sure that his memories are the key, how he knows is a mystery. Thinking of that possibility was starting to make his head hurt, the fact that he had not eaten or slept recently was not helping.

Kai put his head in his hands as the headache grew worse, this is the worst that it has been. It felt like he was trying to open a lid but it refused to budge, according to his doctor he said that this was him trying to remember but the mind refusing to follow through. All of this however, was unknown to Tsuzuki.

"Eto-san, are you okay?" asked Tsuzuki. When he had received no answer he asked again, but the response that he got was chilling; even for a shinigami like him.

"Eto-Kai is unavailable at the moment. You are speaking with Kosaka Kai, what can I help you with shinigami?" Kosaka answered in Kai's stead.

Tsuzuki was frozen to the spot not daring to go near the person that sat in front of him. Instead of the gentle young man that was sitting in front of him, there sat another person in the same body, one that was not friendly.

"So you know what I am then? For how long, and does 'Eto-san' know?" Asked Tsuzuki.

"Wow curious one aren't you? Well to answer your questions I knew who you were as far back as when you first approached. As for Kai no, he does not know what you are. To him you are just a stranger that he was hoping could have answers," explained Kosaka.

Tsuzuki did not know what to do, he was hoping that he could meet the other soul residing within the young man but he did not think that it would be this soon. This was quite the anomaly and to think that Kosaka knew what he was. He wondered if he also knew that Hisoka was nearby just in case he needed back up.

"Also you can tell your friend to quit hiding, I know that he is here too," said Kosaka.

"Well I guess the cat is out of the bag, Tsuzuki," said Hisoka as he appeared before Kosaka and his partner. "What gave it away" he pressed.

"I could hear you and not in the physical sense either, to make things simple let's call it intuition," said Kosaka. "Now that we are all here now, I will only ask once: What do you want with Kai?" questioned Kosaka.

"We came here to investigate some anomalies with the recently deceased and since we are here we came to investigate Eto-san. After all it is not every day that the judgement bureau gets visits from the living," explained Hisoka.

"Ah that incident, and here I was thinking that no one saw us," said Kosaka.

Now both of them looked confused and it was at that point that Tsuzuki moved away from Kosaka and went to stand next to Hisoka. Kosaka then explained that Kai was so desperate to get his memories back that he had tapped into some spirit energy and had astral projected into the spirit realm and in this case the judgement bureau. Kosaka convinced Eto Kai that it was all a dream and for the most part helped Kai in forgetting about it. But it seems that it was all in vain as Kosaka did not take into account that two shinigami had seen them.

"If Kai realizes what he can do, I can only imagine that it would tear him apart. I have to make sure that, that does not happen if I want to live," explained Kosaka.

"I exist solely to protect Kai from anything more traumatic. When he was young he witnessed the murder of his family. That is when I was born, I take all of the bad so that he can live a full and happy life. I am far stronger than he is so I can take the burden, but here is the catch, he does not know that I exist. I am the reason his memories are missing, and once he is strong enough and quits being an idiot then I will return them to him," explained Kosaka.

Somewhere within that long explanation the snow stopped falling.


End file.
